Blogs

NOT ONLY IS CLIMATE-CHANGE DENIAL STUPID, IT’S ABOUT TO GET EXPENSIVE: “Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist from California, wants to blast the issue of climate change to the front lines of American politics. His “super PAC,” NextGen Climate, will spend about $100 million this year to influence several Senate and governor’s races in which climate change could play a major role. But the goal, Mr. Steyer’s strategists say, is to pave the way for climate change to become a major issue in the next presidential campaign, by elevating it in the minds of voters in states that will play crucial roles in nominating and electing the next president. Mr. Steyer’s organization will pour money into media campaigns to influence Senate races in Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado and Michigan, and governors’ races in Pennsylvania, Florida and Maine. They will back candidates who openly embrace climate change policies in an effort to help them defeat those who question or deny the established science of climate change. Mr. Steyer hopes those tactics will create a political landscape in which candidates fear that they will be politically punished for questioning that science. To coordinate the effort, Mr. Steyer has hired Chris Lehane, a veteran Democratic strategist. “We want 2014 to be a pivot year for climate — the year we can demonstrate that you can use climate change as a wedge issue to win in political races,” Mr. Lehane said Wednesday at a briefing with reporters. Mr. Lehane declined to name an exact figure, but he said that Mr. Steyer had already pledged to spend $50 million of his own fortune on the effort, while NextGen Climate has committed to raising $50 million more.” (via New York Times)

SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER? SHOULD WE TALK ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT?

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REMEMBER THAT TIME THE KOCH BROTHERS BOUGHT OUT FSU’S BUSINESS SCHOOL? WELL THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET EVEN MORE TERRIBLE: “Florida State University has been searching for a leader since February when former president Eric Barron announced he’d be taking the same job at Penn State. As Matt Galka tells us, a high profile lawmaker could be next in line. John Thrasher is many things. He currently chairs Governor Rick Scott’s re-election campaign. He’s the former head of the Republican Party of Florida, and he’s one of the most powerful state Senator’s in the legislature. He could be adding FSU President to that list soon. “We can continue to try and build a pool of candidates that is deserving of this position. But my assessment is, you’re going to have a very hard time doing that,” said William Funk, the man hired to lead the president search. The headhunters in charge of finding a new president for the university said that Thrasher’s high profile has caused a weak crop of candidates. They recommended the former House Speaker be considered for the job. Thrasher won’t be moving into the President’s office just yet. And some faculty and students don’t think he should at all.” (via Capitol News Service)

YOLO, YOHO. MIGHT AS WELL CAST AN UGLY SHADOW OF ENTITLEMENT: “New video footage confirms what we have come to expect from Republican Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida: that he has some radically regressive views of voting rights laws. Speaking at the Berean Baptist Church in Ocala, Florida, during his 2012 campaign, Mr. Yoho expressed his fondness for limiting voting to property owners, the new video reveals. “I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote,” Mr. Yoho says. The first-term congressman’s campaign comments echo those made by Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips who said in 2010 that returning to 19th century voting laws “makes a lot of sense.” “If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners,” Phillips said. The footage, uploaded by Right Wing Watch, adds to Mr. Yoho’s emerging legacy. He is a proud supporter of birtherism and has called for the United States to default on it’s debt to boost the nation’s credit rating among other things. He has expressed grave doubts about the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and has denounced Obamacare for being racist toward white people.” (via Salon)

JUST BEING GOV. RICK SCOTT IS A SECURITY THREAT? HMMM. OR IS IT THAT HE JUST DOESN’T WANT US TO KNOW WHERE IN THE WORLD ALL THE ACRIMONY/MONEY IS?: “On Feb. 17, Gov. Rick Scott began his day in Naples. At an unknown time he and an unknown number of guests and staff left the Naples Municipal Airport and at an unknown time, he later landed in St. Petersburg-Clearwater. A stop at the Pinellas Realtors Organization came next, followed by a meeting with Virginia Haworth at an undisclosed location with an undisclosed number of people. More redactions to the schedule follow and it isn’t until Scott and his staff arrived at the Greater Orlando Aviation Office that times again appear on the governor’s schedule, also known as a line-by-line. Eyewitness News reviewed two months of Scott’s travel history and on almost every day, sections of the schedule dealing with travel, meetings and times are blacked out and restricted from public view. The large swaths of redactions to the governor’s travel history are carried out by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, citing 119.07 (2)(d) of the Florida Statutes. The statute deals with surveillance tactics and in a statement to 9 Investigates, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement wrote, “The redactions to the line-by-lines are to prevent surveillance by persons who may want to physically harm the governor or his family. "Disclosing information such as travel time, manifest and hotels would reveal patters in the governor’s travel and could pose a security threat to the governor. Security protocols utilized by FDLE Protective Operations are reviewed often and changes are made as necessary to protect the governor and his family.” But Eyewitness News has learned that these security concerns seem to be a recent thing. Former Governors Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and Lawton Chiles routinely turned over their line-by-lines without the redactions.” (via WFTV)